Transforming Spaces & Reshaping Communities

Repositioning & Adaptive Reuse of Existing Assets Across All Asset Types

• 

  Joon Choi

  Mr. Choi oversees development and co-leads asset management at the firm. Prior to founding Harbor, Mr. Choi was a Vice President of Investment Management at BlackRock where he was responsible for developments in the Western U.S. and the leasing and asset management of commercial assets primarily located in Southern California. Mr. Choi has developed or renovated over 5M square feet of properties throughout all major Western US markets and executed more than 3M square feet of commercial leases. In Southern California, Mr. Choi implemented opportunistic and value-add strategies across office, industrial, retail, and multifamily assets valued at over $1B. Prior to BlackRock, Mr. Choi worked in the finance group at Intel. Mr. Choi holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics, Real Estate and Finance from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He is an alumni of the NAIOP Young Professional Group and is a ULI Office and Commercial Initiative council member. He is on the Founding Team of a charter high school for at-risk students in Orange County.

  Harbor Associates

  Principal

  Joon Choi

  Principal

  Harbor Associates

• 

  Mark Weinstein

  Mark is the President and Founder of MJW Investments. After beginning his career as an attorney, Los Angeles native Mark J. Weinstein founded MJW Investments in 1983 when he discovered the potential of real estate investment and development through several successful ventures. Under his leadership MJW has acquired approximately 1 billion dollars of real estate holdings in all asset types. He also spearheaded the adaptive reuse of Santee Village, one of Los Angeles’ largest adaptive reuse projects of over 800,000 sqft. of mixed-use in the Fashion District of Downtown Los Angeles. Mr. Weinstein’s passion for, and expertise in property repositioning has been a guiding factor in the company’s growth and success. Mark is the majority owner of the firm’s $800MM diversified real estate holdings. More recently, Mark has led the firm’s strategic growth into student housing and has amassed a portfolio of student housing properties at Michigan State, Washington State, Brigham Young University, UC Santa Barbara, Texas Tech, University of Illinois and University of Oregon. The firm continues to expand its Southern California multifamily portfolio. Throughout his career, Mr. Weinstein has maintained active associations and leadership with numerous civic and philanthropic groups. These include a three year term as Chair of the Jewish Federation’s Real Estate Construction Division; and active associations with the Young Presidents Organization (YPO), the Guardians, an agency dedicated to serving the elderly, and the Jewish Venture Philanthropy fund. Mr. Weinstein holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California at Santa Barbara (summa cum laude), and a Juris Doctorate from Loyola Law School (dean’s list).

  MJW Investments

  Founder & President

  Mark Weinstein

  Founder & President

  MJW Investments

• 

  Alex Kolodziejczyk

  With 15 years of experience in both Engineering and Commercial Real Estate Development, as a Development Vice President for CIM Group, Alex has managed an aggregate of $152 Million of development cost across 735,000 SF and delivered 346 units to the Los Angeles market. His experience includes entitlement, design, permitting and construction for both ground-up and adaptive re-use projects.

  CIM Group

  VP, Development

  Alex Kolodziejczyk

  VP, Development

  CIM Group

• 

  Eddie Lorin

  Eddie Lorin is managing member and co-founder of Strategic Realty Holdings. He is a real estate owner, developer and acting principal. Through the course of his career, Eddie has successfully acquired more than 200 properties; 40,000 units contained in over $4.2 billion in real estate. Eddie is one of the original “mission-oriented investors” before impact investments focused on delivering a triple bottom line…financial, environmental and social returns to its investors, residents and its stakeholders. Eddie is a member of the EIG and the Novogradac coalitions for Opportunity Zones. Eddie is also co‐founder of the 501c3 HAPI Foundation with his wife Jane which was developed to promote health and wellness in low-income apartment communities. Earning his bachelor's degree from the University of California, Los Angeles and has been a licensed California real estate broker since 1988. He has two college-age daughters and lives in Westlake Village, CA with his wife.

  Strategic Realty Holdings

  CEO & Founder

  Eddie Lorin

  CEO & Founder

  Strategic Realty Holdings

• 

  Brett Gomes

  Brett Gomes is Senior Vice President at Philadelphia-based Argosy Real Estate Partners, an institutional diversified real estate fund manager focused on the lower middle market. Working out of Argosy’s San Francisco office, Brett leads West Coast acquisitions and is responsible for sourcing new investments and expanding Argosy’s network of operating partners throughout the California, Oregon, Washington, and Hawaii. Prior to joining Argosy, Brett was a Managing Director with PRG Capital Management and Director of its sister company, PRG Real Estate, based in Philadelphia. The PRG Companies are a vertically integrated multifamily owner/operator with a portfolio comprising 12,000 units across the Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, and Southeast. Brett is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business, from which he received his Bachelor of Science in Economics.

  Argosy Real Estate Partners

  SVP

  Brett Gomes

  SVP

  Argosy Real Estate Partners

• 

  James Woolum

  Good design aims to please. But for James Woolum, great design elicits transformative human experience. Designing for significant organizational and cultural change, James creates transformative human experiences through well-crafted environments to enhance wellbeing, performance, and bring renewed purpose to under-valued buildings and spaces. James has led the design of many adaptive reuse projects across Southern California, including an office-to-healthcare clinic conversion, the historic preservation and adaptive reuse of Howard Hughes’s Spruce Goose Hangar into Google workplace, and a laboratory turned student center at Cal State LA. A native Angeleno, James earned a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Southern California and currently serves as a board member for AIA Los Angeles.

  ZGF

  Partner

  James Woolum

  Partner

  ZGF

• 

  Elise Kunihiro

  As an Associate of RDC, Elise has been a key player on the Retail Grocery & Market workgroup over the past eight years, serving as a primary team member with Erewhon. She leads the way with dedication, strong work ethic, and drive to continuously improve workflow and efficiency within the team. Elise participates in marketing and client relationship activities, including recently published an article in the ULI Magazine about 475 S. Lake Avenue, the former I. Magnin building in Pasadena, where RDC served as architect for its historic restoration and adaptive reuse into a mixed-use destination with Erewhon, Tia and Bella.

  RDC

  Associate

  Moderator

  Elise Kunihiro

  Associate

  RDC

Office To Residential Conversions

Turning Vacancies Into Livable Spaces

• 

  Patrick Chraghchian

  As president of each of the Adept companies, Patrick leads each team with over 30 years of design, technical, construction, and development expertise. Patrick is a civil engineering graduate from the University of Southern California with nearly 30 years’ experience administrating and managing construction development projects totaling more than $300 million nationally, including apartment buildings, mixed-use developments, retail centers, office buildings, and public works projects. His oversight ensures we provide fully integrated planning, programming, full service architecture, engineering, construction management and contracting services. In addition, Patrick has served as Chairman of Old Pasadena Management District, Chair of the Economic Development Committee and is a past member of the Engineering Contractor Association. He is also an accomplished free-style skier and supports the Western U.S. Regional Offices Finance Committee of Homenetmen, an athletic youth organization.

  Adept Urban

  Founder, President & CEO

  Patrick Chraghchian

  Founder, President & CEO

  Adept Urban

• 

  Margo Weisz

  VP

  Jamison Properties

• 

  Roberto Vazquez

  As an Associate Principal, and one of AXIS Architecture + Design’s senior leaders, Roberto Vazquez, AIA, brings over 20 years of experience and a uniquely deep level of expertise in adaptive reuse and architectural renovation to our Los Angeles office. With a significant portfolio of conversion, historic conservation, and major rehabilitation projects in downtown Los Angeles and Southern California, Roberto has successfully managed building types spanning small tenant improvements to high-rise adaptive reuse developments. Complementing AXIS’ well-established position as hospitality renovation and multi-family residential design leaders, Roberto is AXIS’ resident adaptive reuse expert, and serves as the firm’s historic conservation and conversion expert. A recognized regional expert, Roberto’s experience with Los Angeles City codes has made him one of the local industry’s most knowledgeable adaptive reuse and renovation experts. Recently, Roberto was a key member of the AIA LA’s roundtable that in-part advised the City of Los Angeles on the creation of their new Citywide Housing Adaptive Reuse Ordinance – an effort whose goal is to improve access to affordable housing by way of streamlining the conversion of commercial and office spaces into housing stock.

  AXIS Architecture + Design

  Associate Principal

  Roberto Vazquez

  Associate Principal

  AXIS Architecture + Design

• 

  Duane Hagewood

  With over 30 years of experience in city building and redevelopment, Duane has developed a deep expertise in Adaptive Reuse projects, breathing new life into existing structures while preserving their historical and cultural significance. As a seasoned leader, he skillfully guides project teams through the unique challenges of adaptive reuse, balancing the complexities of design integration, structural retrofitting, and modern code compliance. Duane’s extensive portfolio includes the transformation of outdated commercial buildings, historic landmarks, and underutilized spaces into vibrant mixed-use developments, multifamily residential complexes, student housing, and affordable living solutions. His strategic approach to entitlements and deep understanding of urban planning allows him to streamline project approvals, ensuring efficient turnarounds while maximizing the potential of revitalized spaces.

  Carrier Johnson + Culture

  Principal

  Duane Hagewood

  Principal

  Carrier Johnson + Culture

• 

  Brooks McDaniel

  As Senior Vice President of Building Repositioning, Brooks McDaniel provides overall direction and leadership to STOBG’s Building Repositioning Group. He works closely with the NYC-based executive leadership for Pavarini McGovern and Structure Tone to develop long-range strategic plans to help establish STOBG as an expert in building repositioning, particularly in the NYC market, as well as work with leadership across the organization to best leverage the company’s expertise in this important sector. Brooks was previously Vice President of Design & Development at Extell Development Company, where he was responsible for the design of millions of square feet of residential, commercial office, hotels, retail, and educational buildings. Prior to working at Extell, Brooks was a project director at SHoP Architects in New York, where he worked on various cultural, residential, and institutional projects. Earlier in his career, he also worked as an architect at Asymptote Architecture, Davis Brody Bond, and Roger Ferris & Partners. A registered architect, Brooks earned undergraduate degrees in management and in marketing from Lehigh University and a master’s of architecture from Parsons New School in New York.

  STO Building Group

  SVP, Building Repositioning

  Brooks McDaniel

  SVP, Building Repositioning

  STO Building Group

• 

  Chris Hennessy

  As senior director of Shawmut’s West region, Chris Hennessy is focused on providing the best client experience, leading the pursuit and execution of projects across hotels, restaurants, life science, commercial, sports venues, museums, and high-end residential. This has led to a portfolio boasting the adaptive reuse projects for both Soho Warehouse and The Hoxton DTLA, The Houses at 8899 Beverly, and Nobu Ryokan and Nobu Malibu. Chris is a member of LAEDC, SCDF, ULI LA, Hotel Association of Los Angeles, California Hotel & Lodging Association, and California Restaurant Association.

  Shawmut

  Sr Director

  Moderator

  Chris Hennessy

  Sr Director

  Shawmut